1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle handle locking apparatus comprising: a locking member that can operate between a locked position in which the locking member engages with a steering handle or a linkage member that operates together with the steering handle and an unlocked position in which engagement of the locking member with the steering handle or the linkage member is released; a holding member that holds the locking member so as to operate together with the locking member; a resilient member that resiliently urges the locking member and the holding member toward the unlocked position side; an engaging member that engages with the holding member in the locked position and holds the locking member in the locked position; and an electric actuator that at least exerts power causing the engaging member to operate toward the side on which engagement of the engaging member with the holding member in the locked position is released.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle handle locking apparatus is known in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2735454, in which a holding member that holds a locking member is urged toward an unlocked position side with a spring, and a rotation member that engages with the holding member rotates in one direction in response to manual operation and is thereby urged with a spring in another direction so as to cause the locking member to operate toward the locked position side; an engaging member is engaged with the rotation member so as to prevent the rotation member from rotating in the other direction in the state in which the locking member is at the locked position; engagement of the engaging member with the rotation member is released by an operation of an electric actuator; and the locking member and the holding member are thereby moved to the unlocked position side by an urging force with a spring.
However, in the handle locking apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2735454 above, when a force in the rotation direction is applied to the shaft of the steering handle with the locking member engaged with the shaft, even if the state in which movement of the holding member toward the unlocked position is blocked by the engaging member is released, only the spring urging force of the holding member toward the unlocked position side may not cause the locking member and the holding member to smoothly move to the unlocked positions.